2002-10-08 9:10 a.m.

Wait one minute! This graffiti does not say PENIS or ORIGINAL GANGSTA or THUGZZZ. Am I missing something?

Finally some good graffiti in San Francisco�something which might inspire a person to better the world we live in.

I get so tired of the empty and meaningless "tags" that scar most everything in this city I now call home. What statement is being made with things like "PROPA", "PENIS", "GANGSTA" or "ROCK & MICK JAGGER RULES". Why must angsty, urban youth lift their leg on everything like a dog?

Someone even tagged our garbage can with a paint marker. I am thankful I can't decipher what it says�it spares me the disappointment. "(shit) No, you don't understand, I am a (fucking) serious and misunderstood artist (dawg)! I am (all) under�appreciated (and shit, dawg)!" Ok, sure this is someone's expression. I hope that they might realize that there is so much more to express.

What, are you some sort of plebeian? This is not graffiti. This is meaningful, generation�defining art here on my garbage can lid. This garbage can lid is on temporary loan from the Louvre before it makes its way to the Tate Modern in London.

Tristan Farnon, creator of Leisuretown, had some brilliant social commentary about urban graffiti in San Francisco. Read it here.

Speaking of Tristan Farnon, here is a picture of him and me. Observe the explosive joy on my face�it looks like my face will soon break from so much smiling. Understand ladies and gentlemen, I am standing next to the author of Leisuretown, the most inspiring and relevant written work since the New Testament.

Maybe people do not realize that everything they put into the world gets soaked up by other people and then redistributed again�radiating out and then back again like a universal, interconnected spider web. If people truly realized�actually understood�how much affect they have on the world around them, would they rethink the light they shine into the world?


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